Dr. Dwayne Hooks

My teaching philosophy has developed and been informed by numerous influences including: thirty five years of professional registered nursing practice, undergraduate and graduate coursework, participation on School of Nursing Advisory Boards (i.e. Western Carolina University), serving as a preceptor for graduate nursing students, participating in continuing healthcare, medical, and nursing education, having an understanding of the standards of accreditation and criteria for evaluation of nursing programs, through review of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Report on the Future of Nursing (Leading Change, Advancing Health), and most recently as my role as Professor of Nursing and Dean for the College of Health. Specifically, the IOM report called for nurses to achieve higher levels of education and to practice at the fullest extent of their education and training. The IOM report charged nursing faculty to examine curriculum and to be sure that nurses have education and training in leadership, system improvement, research, teamwork, and collaboration to ensure success within a reformed healthcare environment. Based on my executive-level experience in nursing administration and hospital operations, the completion of a post-Masters certificate in Health Professions education, and as a faculty member teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, I have demonstrated success and competence in the content areas outlined in the IOM report.
Knowing early in my career that academia was in my future, and reflecting on my prior personal teaching/learning experiences, I elected to complete the requirements for the health professions educator certificate as part of my doctoral studies at the University of Kansas. The courses in this program included: (1) Designing a Student Learning Environment, (2) Curriculum/Program Planning and Evaluation, (3) Teaching with Technologies, and (4) Foundations in Education and Learning. These courses provided me with the basic foundation necessary to enter into a faculty role and contributed to my thinking around the development of my personal teaching philosophy. During these courses, I was introduced to many educational theories, teaching philosophies and strategies which serve as a guide for my role as a faculty member and leader within in a College of Health.
My goal as a teacher/facilitator of learning will be to create what Fink (2003) describes as “significant learning experiences” (p. 6). Significant learning experiences are characterized by a process component as well as an outcome component (Fink, 2003). The process component speaks to having an engaged student in a learning environment that is considered high energy (Fink, 2003). The outcomes component, the result of significant learning experiences, reveals that these experiences bring value to the learner (Fink, 2003). This value can contribute to the enhancement of the student’s life, allow the student to contribute to the communities with which they belong, and prepare the student for the working world (Fink, 2003). All of these strategies are key in the graduate student teaching/learning environment whether the educational offering is in a face-to-face classroom or through the use of technology with online learning experiences.

The Engaged Learner
In order to engage the student/learner, I utilize techniques and strategies that I have found useful and engaging in my academic journey as a student as well as a faculty member. These strategies include having clearly stated objectives utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy to develop rich course/learning activities. In addition to having clearly stated objectives, course outcomes and associated deliverables should be comprehensively described and communicated utilizing multiple methods (i.e. syllabus, communication boards, electronic communication such as email, etc.) to ensure student/learner understanding of the course deliverables, course requirements, and assessment strategies.
Setting and communicating high expectations for students/learners and utilizing active learning strategies engages course participants. I utilize multiple active learning strategies in order to engage students in different ways. These strategies include: problem-based learning scenarios, case studies, discussion boards, and critical thinking vignettes (Billings & Halstead, 2009). Collaborative learning is also utilized in course activities allowing the capture of different perspectives. Another strategy that I utilize to actively engage students and create a high energy learning environment is through the use of course content and deliverable options. For example, this technique allows for the student/learner to identify an area of course content of interest and/or a deliverable that they would find value in completing. If an objective of the course was to demonstrate competency within the nursing administration content area of nursing productivity, a student/learner may choose to write a narrative on this topic while another student may elect to meet with a local healthcare provider/executive to participate in dialogue about productivity measurement and techniques and its relationship to financial performance and then summarize this learning activity in a discussion board. Course content and deliverable options need to be clearly presented to support student understanding and a variety of options.
Availability of faculty to students/learners is essential. I utilize online and on campus office hours in order to be available to students for discussion and clarification of course material and deliverables. In addition to being available to students, faculty should provide rich and rapid feedback. Course activities that I utilize that allow for the provision of rich rapid feedback include deliverables that would be reviewed by the student (self-review), other students (peer review), and faculty. The goal would be for each individual to review the submitted work and provide feedback/constructive critique based on a rubric outlining the assignment/deliverable requirements. This type of review provides the graduate student with feedback from different perspectives and could occur quickly based on assignment guidelines. In the spirit of continuous improvement, ongoing and end of course feedback (informal and formal via surveys) from students/learners is also utilized to modify course content and requirements.
In summary, I believe that faculty have an obligation and responsibility to create learning experiences that are significant for course participants and that will impact the learner during and after the course. Students/learners should understand course requirements, deliverables, and assessment strategies, have easy access to faculty, have choice when possible regarding course content and deliverables, receive rich rapid feedback, and take responsibility for being actively engaged in their learning process.

My perspectives regarding nursing research align with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) 2018 position statement on Defining Scholarship for Academic Nursing. The AACN position statement states, “In today’s academic setting, scholarship should be inclusive and applicable to scientists, as well as practice, education, and policy scholars”. The sentiments of this statement are apparent in my recent work. I have been actively involved in engaged scholarship including preparing grant applications since 2014 with several successful grants awarded. This work is possible through the collaborative efforts of numerous nursing and other interprofessional colleagues and demonstrates my support of a team-based approach for scholarly activities.
My scholarly interests are varied and include the following: (1) rebalancing the prelicensure curriculum to advance primary care competencies, (2) the benefits of integrating behavioral health services into the primary care setting, (3) gaining a better understanding of patient’s and families’ experiences with rare diseases, specifically neuromuscular diseases, (4) the scholarship of teaching and learning, and (5) health policy and advocacy.
My interest related to rare neuromuscular conditions began with my dissertation work and includes the use of a qualitative descriptive design in the study entitled “Understanding the Patient’s Experience of an Acute Episode of Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome”. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to gain a richer understanding of the patient’s recalled experience of an acute episode of moderate to severe Guillain-Barre’ syndrome utilizing Orem’s self-care deficit theory of nursing. Inductive content analysis revealed five themes and suggests that healthcare team members, including nurses, do not have an understanding of the special needs of Guillain-Barre’ syndrome patients. Based on these findings, additional research is needed to better understand strategies that would enhance the patient’s experience with moderate to severe cases of Guillain-Barre’ syndrome.
As nursing academicians and leaders, we have a responsibility to generate knowledge that will be far-reaching and have positive impacts on global health and well-being. I have had the opportunity to disseminate my work through regional, national, and international collaborations and peer-reviewed presentations.